1= 


lie  Unite!  Sinai 


jf^lSTlD    THE 


STATE  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


THE 

WILLIAM  R.  PERKINS 

LIBRARY 

OF 
DUKE  UNIVERSITY 


Rare  Books 


THE 


POSITION.  RELATIONS  AND  PROSPECTS 


UNITED  SYNOD 


IN-     RBVKnf'.NCK    TO    Till 


gtai  Issues  pwlieb  in  tbt  present  8Sar. 


Adopted  by  the  Synod  of  Virginia    October  25th,  18e2. 


Published    by   Order    of  the    Synod    at   trie    Office    of  trie 
Ohri.Kti.an    Observer." 


RICHMOND: 

PRINTED     BY     CHARLES     H.      WYNNE 

1863. 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


The  following  report  was  adopted  by  the  Synod  of  Virginia 
during  its  sessions  in  October,  1862,  and  published  soon  after, 
and  extensively  circulated  in  the  "Christian  Observer"  and 
the  political  papers  of  this  city.  At  the  reading  of  the  Minutes 
at  the  opening  of  the  meeting  of  Synod  in  1863,  a  desire  was 
expressed  that  this  paper,  on  account  of  its  historical  interest, 
should  be  issued  in  a  form  convenient  for  its  preservation. 
The  Synod,  therefore,  ordered  its  publication  in  pamphlet. 

Richmond,  Dec.  lltlu  1863. 


POSITION,  RELATIONS  AND  PROSPECTS  OF 
THE  UNITED  SYNOD. 


Report  of  the  Committee  appointed  to  prepare  a  paper  upon 
"  The  Position,  Relations  and  Prospects  of  our  branch  of 
the  Church,  etc.,  in  reference  to  the  moral  issues  involved  in 
the  present  war." 

The  organization  of  the  UNITED  SYNOD— with  which 
the  Presbyteries  constituting  the  Synod  of  Virginia  are  con- 
nected, and  by  which  this  branch  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
assumed  its  2^osition  in  the  South — was  felt  by  many,  at  the 
time  of  its  consummation,  to  be  in  itself  a  fact  of  much  im- 
portance, and  significant  of  other  possible,  if  not  probable, 
divisions  and  new  combinations,  in  ecclesiastical  and  political 
relations. 

This  organization  was  initiated  by  a  representative  Conven- 
tion of  Churches  in  the  Southern  States,  held  in  the  city  of 
Richmond  in  August,  1857,  and  perfected  by  Commissioners 
from  the  Presbyteries,  at  a  meeting  held  in  Knoxville,  Tenn., 
in  April,  1858. 

The  reasons  for  this  organization  were,  in  brief,  the  inva- 
sions upon  our  rights  of  conscience,  and  the  violation  of  the 
Constitution  and  Form  of  Government  under  which  we  had 
for  years  been  associated  with  Northern  Churches,  in  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  United  States. 

On  various  occasions,  prior  to  the  year  1853,  the  Commis- 
sioners from  our  Southern  Presbyteries  had  protested  solemnly 
and  distinctly  against  these  invasions  and  violations,  and  we 
were  pained  to  find  that  these  protests  were  disregarded,  and 
that  our  conscientious  convictions  and  feelings  were  treated 
with  increasing  disrespect. 


In  185G,  the  Southern  delegates  to  the  General  Assembly, 
held  in  New  York,  issued  from  that  city,  a  circular  letter  to 
our  churches,  apprising  them  of  the  condition  of  things,  as  it 
was. then  apprehended,  with  such  suggestions  as  were  deemed 
prudent,  with  a  view  to  preserve  unity  of  sentiment  and  har- 
mony of  action  among  them  in  anticipation  of  a  crisis  which 
might  demand  a  separation  from  that  Assembly. 

In  May,  1857,  our  delegates  to  the  General  Assembly,  at 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  felt  themselves  constrained,  for  truth  and 
conscience  sake,  to  withdraw  together  from  that  body,  and  to 
recommend  the  Convention  which  was  held  in  the  United  Pres- 
byterian Church,  in  Richmond,  in  August  following.  The 
doings  of  that  Convention,  and  of  the  United  Synod,  which 
was  formally  organized  at  Knoxville,  ia  1858,  are  matters  of 
record  and  history,  which  are  worthy  of  present  notice.  There 
■were  thinking  men  who,  then,  regarded  those  doings  as,  in  a 
sense,  prophetic  ;  and  those  who  now  review  them  will  not  fail 
to  discover  some  striking  parallels  and  realizations  in  the  de- 
velopments and  events  now  transpiring  in  ecclesiastical  and 
political  affairs. 

The  following  extracts  from  the  published  minutes  of  the 
Convention  and  United  Synod,  referred  to,  may  here  be  ap- 
propriately introduced. 

In  the  RICHMOND  CONVENTION,  after  full  and  free 
discussion,  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions  were  unani- 
mously adopted  : 

Whereas,  all  acts,  resolutions  and  testimonies  of  past  General 
Assemblies,  and  especially  the  action  of  the  last  General  Assembly, 
whereby  suspicions  and  doubts  of  the  good  standing  and  equal  rights 
and  privileges  of  slaveholding  members  of  the  Church,  or  imputa- 
tions or  charges  against  their  Christian  character,  have  been  either 
implied  or  expressed,  are  contrary  to  the  example  and  teachings  of 
Christ  and  his  Apostles,  and  are  a  violation  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  : 

And,  whereas,  the  relation  of  master  and  servant,  in  itself  con- 
sidered, or  further  than  the   relative  duties  arising  therefrom,  and 


slavery,  as  an  institution  of  the  State,  do  not  properly  belong  to  the 
Church  judicatories  as  subjects  for  discussion  and  inquiry: 

And,  whereas,  in  the  judgment  of  this  Convention,  there  is  no 
prospect  of  the  cessation  of  this  agitation  of  slavery  in  the  General 
Assembly  so  long  as  there  are  slaveholders  in  connection  with  the 
Church  :  therefore, 

1.  Resolved,  That  we  recommend  to  the  Presbyteries  in  connec- 
tion with  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  to  withdraw  from  said  body. 

2.  Resolved,  That  in  the  judgment  of  this  Convention,  nothing 
can  be  made  the  basis  for  discipline  in  the  Presbyterian  Church 
which  is  not  specifically  referred  to  in  the  Constitution,  as  crime  or 


3.  Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  have  no  power  to  pronounce  a  sentence  of  condemnation  on  a 
lower  judicatory  or  individuals  for  any  cause,  unless  they  have  been 
brought  before  the  Assembly  in  the  way  prescribed  by  the  Constitu- 
tion. 

4.  Resolved,  That  the  Convention  recommend  to  all  the  Presbyte- 
ries in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  which  are  opposed  to  the  agitation  of 
slavery  in  the  highest  judicatory  of  the  Church,  to  appoint  delegates, 
in  the  proportion  prescribed  by  our  Form  of  Government  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  Commissioners  to  the  Assembly,  to  meet  at  Knoxville, 
Tenn.,  on  the  First  Thursday  in  April,  1858,  for  the  purpose 
of  organizing  a  general  Synod  under  the  name  of  "  The  United 
Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America." 

5.  Resolved,  That  the  members  of  this  Convention  adhere  to  and 
abide  by  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  as  con- 
taining the  system  of  doctrine  taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures;  and 
that  we  adhere  to  the  Form  of  Government  and  Rook  of  Discipline 
of  said  Church. 

In  the  UNITED  SYNOD,  as  first  regularly  organized,  at 
Knoxville,  a  "DECLARATION  OF  PRINCIPLES"  was 
unanimously  adopted,  from  which  the  following  extracts  are 
taken : 

Whereas,  In  the  Providence  of  God,  we,  the  representatives  of 
Presbyteries  heretofore  in  connection  with  the  General  Assembly  of 


the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  have  been 
constrained  by  a  regard  to  our  convictions  of  duty  to  ourselves,  to  the 
Church  of  Christ,  and  to  our  entire  country,  to  withdraw  from  said 
General  Assembly,  and  to  form  a  separate  ecclesiastical  judicatory, 
under  the  name  of  "The  United  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States  of  America,"  to  be  possessed  of  powers  similar  to 
those  recognized  in  the  Confession  of  Faith,  as  belonging  to  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly:  and  whereas,  it  seems  to  be  necessary,  in  order  to 
avoid  misapprehensions  of  our  position,  both  now  and  hereafter,  that 
we  should  place  upon  permanent  record,  a  statement  of  the  princi- 
ples which  have  governed  us  in  forming  a  separate  organization; 
therefore, 

Resolved,  That,  this  "  United  Synod"  make  the  following  Decla- 
ration of  Principles,  as,  in  their  judgment,  in  accordance  with 
the  Word  of  God,  and  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  as  essential  to  the  peace,  unity  and  permanent  prosperity  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  this  land. 

1.  We  declare  our  agreement  in,  and  approbation  of,  the  West- 
minster Confession  of  Faith,  with  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms 
of  the  Westminster  Assembly,  as  containing  the  system  of  doctrine 
taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  and  also  our  adherence  to  the  Form 
of  Government  and  Book  of  Discipline  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  these  United  States. 

*  *  *  *  -       *  * 

2.  It  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  that  no  judicatory,  or  minister,  or  private  member, 
can  be  censured  or  condemned,  or  excluded  from  church  privileges, 
by  any  court  of  the  church,  for  doctrinal  sentiments  expressed,  or  for 
practices  that  the  court  may  regard  as  sinful  and  inconsistent  with 
the  requirements  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  without  a  process  of 
trial,  such  as  is  prescribed  in  said  Constitution.         *         *         * 

3.  According  to  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  the 
General  Assembly  is  an  advisory  and  judicial  body.  It  possesses  no 
legislative  power  in  the  proper  acceptation  of  the  term.  It  cannot 
enact  laws  that  are  binding  upon  the  lower  judicatories.  The  Consti- 
tution expressly  provides  that  all  ecclesiastical  rules  or  changes  in  the 
Constitution  shall  receive  the  approval  of  a  majority  of  the  Presby- 
teries before  they  can  be  obligatory  upon  the  churches.    This  "  United 


Synod,"  therefore,  disclaims  the  right  to  legislate,  or  to  make  laws 
upon  any  subject  that  will  be  binding  upon  the  lower  judicatories,  or 
upon  any  portion  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.        *         *         * 

The  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  with  the  Larger  and  Shorter 
Catechisms,  contains  what  we  believe  to  be  essential  to  truth  and  mo- 
rality. Presbyterians  profess  to  be  governed  by  Constitutional 
Laav  as  it  is  developed  in  the  Confession  of  Faith,  and  not  by  the 
opinions  of  a  Session,  or  Presbytery,  or  Synod,  or  General  Assembly, 
further  than  they  act  in  a  judicial  capacity  with  respect  to  matters 
distinctly  referred  to  in  said  Confession.  A  departure  from  this  prin- 
ciple, and  a  recognition  of  the  right  of  an  ecclesiastical  judicatory  to 
decide  what  is  heresy  or  crime,  when  there  is  no  allusion  in  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith  to  that  which  is  so  regarded,  would  be  tantamount  to 
making  the  judicatory,  instead  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  the  stand- 
ard of  truth  and  morality,  and  as  the  decision  of  one  judicatory 
cannot  bind  another,  there  might  be  as  many  different  opinions  in  re- 
ference to  the  supposed  heresy  or  crime,  as  there  are  judicatories  in 
the  Church.  This  "United  Synod,'7  therefore,  deny  the  right  of 
any  judicatory  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  to  make  anything  a  sub- 
ject of  discipline,  which,  according  to  the  usual  mode  of  interpreting 
language,  and  the  manifest  intent  of  the  framers  of  the  Confession, 
is  not  specifically  referred  to  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Church. 

6.  As  slaveholding,  or  the  relation  between  master  and  slave,  is 
not  referred  to  in  the  Confession  of  Faith,  either  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, as  an  offence,  it  cannot,  in  itself  considered,  in  any  case, 
be  made  the  basis  of  discipline  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  At  the 
same  time,  we  declare  the  right  of  the  Church  Courts  to  take  cogni- 
zance, in  their  judicial  capacity,  of  cruelties  practiced  in  this  and 
other  relations  in  life.  The  Confession  of  Faith  gives  to  Church  ju- 
dicatories the  power  to  discipline  members  of  the  Church  for  cruel- 
ties, whether  they  occur  in  the  parental  or  any  other  relation,  im- 
plied, in  the  language  of  the  Confession,  "superiors  and  inferiors." 
***** 

8.  Inasmuch  as  neither  the  Saviour  nor  his  Apostles  intimated 
that  the  slaveholding  relation  was  sinful,  and  as  they  did  not  attempt 
to  remove  slaveholders  from  the  church  by  legislation  or  by  testifying 
against  it ;  and  further,  as  the  system  of  slavery  is  an  institution  of 
the  State,  its  continuance  or  abolition  depending  entirely  upon  the 


10 

will  of  the  State,  irrespective  of  the  views  and  decisions  of  church 
courts,  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Synod  that  the  discussion  or  agitation 
of  slavery  in  the  judicatories  of  the  Church,  except  so  far  as  respects 
the  moral  and  religious  duties  growing  out  of  the  relation  of  master 
and  slave,  is  inappropriate  to  said  judicatories.  This  Synod  repre- 
senting Presbyteries  that  have  withdrawn  from  their  former  ecclesias- 
tical connection,  because  of  the  repeated  and  unconstitutional  ac- 
tion on  slavery  by  the  General  Assembly,  therefore  declares,  that, 
under  the  present  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  the  agi- 
tation of  slavery  in  any  of  our  judicatories,  further  than  pertains  to 
the  moral  and  religious  duties  arising  from  the  relation,  would  be  in- 
consistent with  the  design  of  our  withdrawal  from  our  former  connec- 
tion, and  in  forming  a  separate  organization.  Whilst,  then,  we  pro- 
pose no  alteration  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
believing  that  as  it  now  stands  the  spirit  of  it  is  against  the  agitation 
of  slaveholding  in  the  Church,  we  express  the  opinion  that  those 
who  unite  with  us,  or  who  may  come  after  us,  will  be  under  a  moral 
obligation,  so  long  as  the  Constitution  remains  as  it  is,  to  exclude 
slavery,  the  agitation  of  which  has  already  divided  three  large  deno- 
minations in  this  country,  as  a  subject  of  discussion,  from  the  Church 
Courts. 


From  this  rehearsal  it  will  appear  that  our  act  of  secession 
from  the  Northern  Assembly  and  the -process  of  new  organiza- 
tion were  in  advance,  and  not  in  the  wake  of  political  dissolu- 
tion and  military  coercion.  The  position  assumed  and  made 
public  in  1857-'8,  by  a  formal  and  solemn  act  of  withdrawal 
from  our  Northern  Connections  and  a  formal  and  solemn  act 
of  organization  and  utterance  of  principles,  is  our  position  still, 
in  which  we  have  enjoyed  peace  among  ourselves  and  some  good 
measure  of  prosperity  under  God's  blessing  upon  our  efforts  to 
preach  the  Gospel  and  preserve  a  pure  Christianity  in  our 
churches.  The  developments  of  the  last  four  years — the  fanati- 
cism and  sectionalism  at  the  North,  the  grasp  for  power  and 
its  centralization,  in  violation  of  express  constitutional  princi- 
ples and  limitations,  and  the  purpose  to  coerce  compliance  with 
the  decisions  of  arbitrary  majorities,  in  ijolitical  as  well  as  in 


11 

ecclesiastical  affairs — these  developments  would  seem  abundantly 
to  justify  the  position  taken  and  resolutely  maintained  by  our 
branch  of  the  church,  and  to  prove  that  it  was  not  taken  too 
soon,  or  too  firmly  maintained. 

Our  relation  to  the  moral  issues  involved  in  the  present  war 
are  obvious.  Prominent  among  these  issues  are :  1st.  The 
"Higher  Laiv"  doctrines,  proclaimed  and  insisted  upon  by 
our  calumniators  and  persecutors,  before  which  written  consti- 
tutions, both  in  Church  and  State,  have  been  openly  violated ; 
and  2d.  The  coercive  policy,  by  which  conscientious  and  legal 
rights  are  invaded  and  despoiled,  without  appeal  or  redress, 
thus  making  separation  and  self-government  the  only  possible 
alternative.  In  opposition  to  these  cardinal  errors,  and  as- 
sumptions of  power,  our  Presbyteries  then  acted,  as  the  South- 
ern States  have  since  done,  in  the  assertion  of  independence, 
and  in  the  establishment  of  a  Government  upon  the  basis  of 
affinity  and  consent.  Our  testimony,  by  p?'otest,  by  patience, 
whilst  patience  was  a  virtue,  and  by  solemn  assertion  of  our 
principles,  rights  and  freedom  to  worship  God  after  the  dic- 
tates of  our  own  judgment  and  conscience,  so  far  as  human 
authority  is  concerned,  very  plainly  exhibits  our  relation  to 
these  and  kindred  other  moral  issues  involved  in  this  war — be- 
tween the  Confederate  States  of  America  and  Mr.  Lincoln's 
government — and  our  hearty  sympathy  with  these  States  in 
their  present  struggle  for  independence. 

Our  prospects  are,  to  us,  hopeful.  God  has  not  left  us 
without  some  decided  and  encouraging  tokens  of  His  gracious 
recognition  as  a  Church,  in  the  comforts  of  the  Gospel  to  be- 
lievers, and  in  the  power  of  His  Spirit,  by  which  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Word  and  other  Christian  efforts  have  been  made 
effectual  to  the  salvation  of  sinners.  We  have  reason  to  hope 
and  believe  that  the  conviction  is  a  growing  one  in  the  minds 
of  candid  and  observing  people,  generally,  that  the  stand 
which  we  have  been  called,  in  the  Providence  of  God,  to  take, 
the  testimony  which  we  have  borne,  and  the  sacrifices  endured 
in  the  defence  of  the  Constitutional  principles  of  the  Presby- 


12 

terian  Church — of  its  old  doctrines  and  paths,  and  of  our  civil 
rights — have  been  of  use  to  the  cause  of  religion  and  the  inte- 
rests of  society  at  large  in  this  part  of  the  land. 

We  have  churches  to  care  for  and  nourish,  and  open  fields 
to  occupy  in  the  service  of  Christ  and  of  souls.  The  Provi- 
dence of  God  seems  plainly  to  say  to  us,   Go  forward! 

We  see  a  great  work  to  be  prosecuted  in  this  Confederacy 
by  the  various  Evangelical  Churches.  We  desire  to  take  part 
in  this  -work,  co-operating,  so  far  as  we  may,  with  sister 
churches,  wishing  them  God-speed  and  enlarging  success  in 
their  efforts  to  honor  the  Saviour  ;  praying  that  all  Christians 
may,  by  a  growing  conformity  and  resemblance  to  Jesus  Christ, 
become  daily  more  and  more  like  each  other  in  all  the  essen- 
tials of  doctrine  and  piety;  so  that,  if  they  shall  continue  to 
move  and  act  in  different  spheres,  as  organized  bodies,  their 
spheres,  and  lives,  and-  efforts  to  glorify  God  and  do  good  to 
men  shall  be  harmonious. 

In  grateful  recognition  of  Divine  Mercy  in  the  past,  and 
commending  our  cause  to  God,  this  Synod  would  here,  and 
now,  set  up  a  Stone  of  Memorial,  for  hitherto  hath  the  Lord 
helped  us.  We  would  extend  to  the  several  Synods,  Presbyte- 
ries, Churches,  and  private  members  of  our  body,  and  to  all 
who  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  our  salutation  in  the  blessed 
bonds,  labors  and  hopes  of  the  Gospel- 

Charles  H.  Read,  ") 

Thos.  D.  Bell, 

A.  Converse,  ^Committee. 

J.  D.  Mitchell, 

W.  F.  Gaines,         J 


